Viking Line’s Spring Break named Best Personnel Event
Viking Line’s Spring Break 2024 was named Best Personnel Event of the Year at the Finnish Evento Awards gala. The entire company travelled to Turku in May last year, where they experienced a combination of strategy launch, training and celebrations – as well as a surprise performance by Käärijä.
The Spring Break event, arranged by the shipping company in partnership with Wolttigroup, was named Best Personnel Event of the Year at the Evento Awards gala in Helsinki on April 10. Evento Awards is a competition in the events industry where the best event productions, venues, speakers, creators and companies in Finland receive awards in 13 different categories.
The jury explained its choice of winner: "This event brought the entire organization together and provided a unique opportunity to strengthen team spirit. The event was skillfully executed, utilizing both artificial intelligence and creativity. Its program successfully combined strategy implementation, business development, and relaxed togetherness. The event demonstrated how informal gatherings can be significant for corporate culture and job satisfaction."
Viking Line’s Spring Break, held at the World Trade Centre Turku in May 2024, brought the entire staff of Finland’s largest shipping company under one roof, with participants from four countries attending and speaking three different languages. A total of 1,700 Viking Line employees took part, along with 200 suppliers in tax-free and restaurant operations at the three-day event.
“Spring Break was not just a staff gathering but an experience that engaged, inspired and brought us together. We managed to combine strategy launch, training and party in a unique way. One of the challenges for the event was that the entire staff took part while our vessels were in service as usual,” says Viking Line’s Development Manager, Lotta Lindroos, who was in charge of the event.
Viking Line’s management and Board members attended all three days of the Spring Break event. Lunch and dinner were handled by Viking Line’s own cooks, and entertainment for the three evenings reached a climax with Käärijä’s surprise performance.
“We wanted to arrange a relaxed event where the formal programme was spiced up with humour, good entertainment and food made by our own cooks. We also had an opportunity to deal with our strategy in a brand-new way. Moreover, the Spring Break event was significant in order to further strengthen our team and the Viking spirit that is so important to us all – it was also important for management to meet our fantastic, engaged staff,” says Viking Line’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Johanna Boijer-Svahnström.
“We reused carpets and other materials from our previous events, recycled on site everything that could be and kept printed materials to a minimum. The trips to Turku, for those employees who live in Finland, were arranged using mass transport. Our Swedish and Åland-based staff sailed home on Viking Grace, which runs on biogas, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from their journeys by 90 per cent. Our suppliers also committed to acting in a way that kept their carbon footprint as small as possible,” notes Lotta Lindroos.
For further information:
Lotta Lindroos, Development Manager
lotta.lindroos@vikingline.com, tel. +358 50 572 2226
Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
johanna.boijer@vikingline.com, tel. +358 18 270 00
Christa Grönlund, Press and PR Officer
christa.gronlund@vikingline.com, tel. +358 9 123 51
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